Even though the Heroic Spirit Template meant Lancer only needed mana and didn't have to eat, he was used to talking business over a meal. He and Cu found a house that wasn't on fire and settled in to eat and chat.
In his left hand was a bottle of Ironforge Dwarven Ale—a gift from Lothar. In his other was some steaming hot roasted meat Tiger had just finished.
"Whoa, Lancer, this animal pal of yours is amazing!"
Cu couldn't stop praising the food as he inhaled Tiger's barbecue. He could grill, sure, but he wasn't even in the same league as Tiger.
He set his drink down and gave Tiger a good head scratch.
Being a veteran Druid, Cu had a way with animals. He seemed a bit reckless, but animals could sense the kindness in him.
Watching Tiger happily roll over and show his belly, Lancer couldn't help but laugh.
But the good times were short-lived. Once the food was gone, they got down to business.
"Senpai, do you know what happened to this city?"
Cu shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Sorry, Lancer. I haven't found a single lead. The 'Holy Grail War' was going fine, and I was going to find some other Servants to spar with, but then Saber went nuts and started attacking everyone..."
"Attacking? Isn't the point of the Holy Grail War for everyone to fight each other?"
Cu smile got even more strained.
"Normally... yeah. But this war is clearly broken. When I was summoned, my Master was right there with me, but she vanished almost immediately. I searched around and found the city is trapped by these weird flames. You can't leave, and there isn't a single living soul left inside. I figured I'd find the other Servants to talk it over—since this is way too creepy—but when I found Archer, Saber jumped us. Archer said something while they were fighting and then got taken out. But..."
Cu brow furrowed, as if remembering something impossible.
"Archer should have been eliminated from the war, but after Saber killed him, he just... stood back up. And I could tell. That wasn't the same Archer as before."
Lancer had already guessed the "world" or "timeline" they were in when he first saw Cu, but after hearing the whole story, he was certain.
He was in the Fifth Holy Grail War, but not the normal one. This place had become a "Singularity."
"Senpai, I think I have a pretty good idea of what's going on—"
Lancer didn't know every detail of the FGO plot, but he knew the basics—the purpose of Chaldea and the nature of Singularities.
"No wonder I can't leave the city. I see... an 'anomaly' split off from the proper human history..."
Unlike Lancer, who was more of an intuitive Mage, Cu Chulainn was a master of Runes. It only took a few sentences of explanation for him to grasp the situation.
"So, a group of people is coming to fix this 'anomalous world'? We just have to find them, then?"
"Exactly."
Lancer didn't know the specifics, but he knew that as long as they stuck to the "main quest," they'd be fine. Cu, however, had other ideas.
"Let's finish up here and go take out the other Servants Saber is controlling."
Cu was much more proactive than the "chill" Lancer.
"According to you, we have to beat Saber eventually. No matter when these 'Chaldea' people show up, we need to prune her backup. There's two of us now. As long as we don't get ganged up on, we should be fine, right?"
He didn't know how his "junior" knew so much about the world, but he decided to trust him. He was only asking for Lancer input because he was worried Saber might have an ace up her sleeve.
This was a Singularity, but it was different from the others. For one, the Heroic Spirits here were mostly "Servants." In other Singularities, some appeared in their "true forms," which meant a massive gap in power. Cu hadn't even been summoned in his best class, Lancer; he was stuck as a Caster. His combat power was nerfed. If he were in his true form, they wouldn't need to be so cautious, but luck was a funny thing, and he'd been shoehorned into the Caster slot.
And that "Saber" was clearly an overpowered version. Charging in blindly would only make things worse.
Cu reason for joining the Holy Grail War was simple—he wanted to test his skills against legends from different eras.
In short, he wanted a good fight. But after Lancer explanation, he realized how serious and weird this situation was. He didn't mind teaming up to take down the other Servants; having a comrade on the battlefield was standard procedure, anyway.
But both Lancer and Cu had underestimated their opponents.
Sometimes, knowing a little bit is more dangerous than knowing nothing at all. You tend to ignore things because of "what you already know." For example, when they finished their meal and went hunting, they found Heracles, summoned as a Berserker.
Heracles was intimidating enough on his own, but after being "killed" by Saber, his blackened, corrupted form was nightmare fuel. The eerie markings and grotesque look meant he could skip the makeup for a horror movie, but that wasn't the surprise. What really made things difficult was the cloaked woman standing near him.
"Lancer... or should I say, Medusa..."
Totally not part of the plan.